One Thousand Paper Cranes
by Lyumia
Summary: There's a legend that promises anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane.


**AN: What's up beautiful and amazing people!?**

 **Summary: There's a** **legend that promises anyone who folds a thousand origami cranes will be granted a wish by a crane.**

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The boy sobbed, wiping away his tears furiously with the sleeve of his T-shirt, blonde spikes drooping as the rain poured down over his head, bruises staining his pale flesh and blood trailing down the corners of his lips.

He stepped into a house- the smallest one in the town- drops of water rolling of his trembling body and onto the floor. A woman looked up from the loveseat she lounged on, a small, tired smile on her face. "Cloud. Come here." She beckoned, her voice soft and assuring.

Cloud stumbled forward, stepping into her embrace and openly crying in her strong arms. "They said-" he hiccupped, "it was my fault momma- they," a tremor jerked his body back, his quick breaths seeming louder in their small living room.

"Shush." She flicked his forehead, pulling him closer into her warmth. "Nothin's your fault, honey. Them boys just say stupid things." She ushered, stroking his hair lovingly. Ya know," she said after a long hour of silence. "When I was a little gal, I folded a bunch of them little paper cranes when I was upset. They say if you fold a thousand of them you get a wish."

"Did you get a wish?" He asked quietly, not daring to look up at her.

"I didn't get a thousand." She shifted, pulling away with a sad smile. "Come on, let's get you dried off."

That night, Cloud folded his first paper crane.

A few years later, Cloud sat alone by the aged tree by his house, sitting on one of its arching limbs and staring down at the group of girls not some distance away, leaning close and whispering amongst themselves.

That lone paper crane, stained yellow with age and bending at the corners was given a companion, one with seamless, stark white, planes and ceaseless wings raised for flight.

The ninth and tenth crane were folded together, nearly seconds apart as a bright eyed raven haired teen grinned widely at the blonde as they celebrated their friendship, adding their birds to the small, growing flock.

When Cloud folded his hundredth crane, his mother bought him string to tie the birds to after a brutal brawl with the neighboring boys.

At five hundred cranes the bride could be seen dangling from his ceiling through the window, where red eyes would glance upon it with curiosity, quickly forgetting the boy she saw standing on his toes and adding a lot her with a troubled frown upon his face.

At six hundred, Cloud could barely walk about his room without the lowest dip in the string brushing the tallest spike on his head, leaving him with a small smile his mother always wished she saw more of on the worst of days.

The seven hundredth was a rich blue- a gift from an old lady who given it to him in passing, with the only explanation being she wished him luck in getting his wish.

For the first time in months, Cloud laughed.

The next two hundred ninty nine cranes that were folded were a spectrum of colors- courtesy of his class, and for the fist time the birds flew in the wind, strung to the lumbering branches of the oak tree leaning over his house.

The thousandth crane was folded at the stroke of midnight- his mother some ways over the mountain visiting her rowdy brother, leaving him alone to sulk about; the sting of rejection leaving the blonde heavy hearted as he smothed out the white paper, sliding open his window he tied the bird to the end of a long price of string, leaning over his window sill and sighing. "Congratulations."

Cloud fell back, gaping uip at the silver haired man who skilled down at him, glowing grin eyes glowing in bemusement. "You've earned yourself a wish." Confusion briefly arouse in the blonde, as he followed the man's pointed gaze to the thousand cranes, realization dawned on him.

"Oh." He blurted out with an air of idiocy. "Um... I was about to bake some cookies... Do you want some?"

He chuckled, gracefully leaping into Cloud's room and following the dazed teenager into the small kitchen where he began pulling out the ingredients. There was a loud knock on the door just as Cloud set the hot pan of cookies down to cool and Zack barged in, tossing the spare key in his hand up and down. "Hey Cloud you wouldn't- cookies!" He gushed, dashing over to the kitchen counter and reaching for the largest.

"Zack." He groaned, watching the older flail his brunt fingers before taking notice to the two winged men who had followed him. "Uh... You too?"

"Hm?" Zack looked up, sucking on his burnt fingers noisily and glancing at the red head who scoffed at the teen, his back haired friend with the white wing chuckling in bemusement."oh yeah, they kind of randomly showed up talkn' bout rules and something about a wish- so I thought I'd come over and ask you, cause you know, you did most of the work- but cookies!"

"Would you guys like some?" He offered to the two winged men standing in his living room.

"We're not here to-" the red head started, but was quickly cut off when the black haired man gave him an easy smile and said; "we'd love to."

So, Sephiroth, Genesis, and Angeal sat down and had a pleasant midnight snack with two humans- though the three wish granters would never be able to admit they'd enjoyed the treats more than they let on.

Eventually, the birds had to be taken down- fog, blizzards and rain had long ruined them, and the birds, creased and brittle with age sat in the lonely attic, gaining a new member when the blonde's mother passed away.

Though many of the townsfolk would probably tell you that that the little old Strife house belonged to a lonely man who traveled much for his buisness- though there was one night, the same every year when he would be home. Waiting at his old bedroom window starimg out at the large tree where one thousand paper cranes once flew, with one Zachary Fair.

What they wouldn't tell you was that sometimes three winged figures could be seen, they'd linger on the mossy branches for some moments, before moving inside. Then for the rest of the night, one could see light from the kitchen windows, and the peculiar smell of cookies lingering in the air...

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 **AN: Cute, eh? I really liked the idea and decided to post something with it. Not sure how it turned out. I researched the idea, but the rules weren't really clear, so I thought if Zack had helped out with a few hundred he'd get a wish too or something like that.**

 **Anyways thanks for reading.**


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